# Commentary

> Doctrine, practice and the business of marks.

- [What the USPTO's AI does in trademark examination, and what it doesn't](https://distinctive-mark.com/commentary/what-the-usptos-ai-does-in-trademark-examination/index.md): In 2026 the Office automated classification, design coding and parts of search. It did not automate the decision to register. Here is what the record shows, what the data on examiner consistency say, and what figures would settle the open questions. (2026-10-20)
- [What the empirical research says about trademark examination and registration outcomes](https://distinctive-mark.com/commentary/what-the-research-says-about-trademark-examination/index.md): Who examines an application, how crowded the register is, and how courts weigh a mark's strength all affect outcomes in ways the doctrine does not describe. A reading of the main studies and the USPTO's own data, with their limits, as the Supreme Court takes up mark strength. (2026-10-20)
- [The vanishing TTAB precedent: what fewer precedential decisions mean for practice](https://distinctive-mark.com/commentary/the-vanishing-ttab-precedent/index.md): For a decade the Board designated 40 to 55 precedents a year. In 2025 it designated 12. We counted the decisions ourselves, and we set out what the drop changes for examination, appeals and inter partes work. (2026-10-20)
- [Foreign words in US marks: KAHWA and the doctrine of foreign equivalents](https://distinctive-mark.com/commentary/foreign-words-in-us-marks-kahwa-and-foreign-equivalents/index.md): The USPTO translates foreign words before it tests them for genericness, descriptiveness and confusion. Three recent decisions show when translation happens, who must show it should not, and what evidence decides the result. (2026-10-20)
- [Failure to function after Brunetti](https://distinctive-mark.com/commentary/failure-to-function-after-brunetti/index.md): The Federal Circuit did not abolish the refusal for widely used words and messages. It required the Board to say what standard it is applying. A field guide to what changed, what did not, and how to build the record now. (2026-10-20)